The present invention relates, in general, to fluid quick connectors which couple fluid carrying components.
Snap-fit or quick connectors are employed in a wide range of applications, particularly, for joining fluid carrying conduits in automotive and industrial application. In a typical quick connector with an axially displaceable retainer, the retainer is fixedly mounted within a bore in a housing of a connector component or element. The retainer has a plurality of radially and angularly extending legs which extend inwardly toward the axial center line of the bore in the housing. A tube or fitting to be sealingly mounted in the bore in the housing includes a radially upset portion or flange which abuts an inner peripheral surface of the retainer legs. Seal and spacer members as well as a bearing or top hat are typically mounted in the bore ahead of the retainer to form a seal between the housing and the fitting when the fitting is lockingly engaged with the retainer legs.
Radially displaceable retainers in which the retainer is radially displaceable through aligned bores or apertures formed transversely to the main through bore in the housing are also known. The radially displaceable retainer is typically provided with a pair of depending legs which are sized and positioned to slip behind the radially upset portion or flange on the fitting only when the fitting or conduit is fully seated in the bore in the connector. This ensures a positive locking engagement of the conduit with the connector as well as providing an indication that the conduit is fully seated since the radially displaceable retainer can be fully inserted into the connector only when the conduit has been fully inserted into the bore in the connector.
In most fluid quick connectors, one or more seal elements, such as resilient O-rings and and/or a rigid spacer member between two spaced O-rings, are mounted in the housing bore to form a seal between the housing and the inserted endform.
A top hat is also typically mounted in the end of the bore to retain the seal elements in the bore prior to insertion of the endform into the bore in the housing or after removal of the endform from the housing. The top hat typically includes a sleeve portion which slides within the bore of the housing, and an end flange which seats in an enlarged end portion of the bore.
In addition to retainers for fluid quick connectors which engage an upset in the form of an enlarged diameter bead or flange spaced from the tip end of an endform, it is also known to construct retainers for fluid quick connectors which secure the endform in the quick connector housing by interlocking a movable retainer with a groove or recess in the endform.
The one or more seal elements as well as the top hat represent separate components which are separately manufactured and must be individually installed into the bore in the fluid quick connector housing. The transverse or axially operable retainers are also separate components which must be individually mounted in the quick connector housing.
Thus, it would be desirable to provide a fluid connector which has a low manufacturing cost due the use of a minimal number of separate components resulting in reduced manufacturing and assembly time, and associated labor.